Ben Roethlisberger got engaged during this past season to Ashley Harlan, a New Castle (PA) gal he met at training camp in 2005. Originally, the two dated briefly and then settled on the friends thing. They reconnected romantically this past summer. That went well enough for them to be engaged by Christmas.

The wedding is set for July 23 (just days before the Steelers open training camp…if there are training camps, of course). The entire Steelers roster and coaching staff has been invited, as have more than 400 other guests.

Roethlisberger has been mum about his private life the past several months. (You may recall he had a bad episode once…or twice…that leaked to the press and caused quite a disturbance for him.) However, this week, he spoke publicly about his wedding for the first time in an interview with Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

In the interview, Roethlisberger said the couple will not be taking gifts at their wedding, but rather, asking guests to make a donation to the Ronald McDonald House and Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. He said they’ve been receiving gifts from strangers and are surprised at the amount of media attention being given to their upcoming nuptials.

More electrifying was this bit from Bouchette’s piece: “Ms. Harlan, a physician's assistant who turns 27 in July, lives at home with her parents. Mr. Roethlisberger cited the couple's religious faith and beliefs as the reasons for not living together until marriage.”

If you feel inclined to roll your eyes or make a snide comment, you’re not the only one. Check out what Eagles guard Todd Herremans tweeted: “What a turnaround... Rapistberger to Religiousberger... Good for him!”

After some backlash from Twitterverse, Herremans took to his Twitter account and defended himself. He tweeted, “Funny how it takes all day to get negative feedback from a tweet … If u read it correctly… It reads ‘good for him.’”